Syriana Review (Sunday Business Post)

Syriana
Principle Cast: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Alexander Siddig, Chris Cooper, Jeffrey Wright
Review: Jonathan McCrea

‘Pay attention’ was the advice passed on to those attending the press screening of Syriana. It’s easy to see why; Syriana is like a day at school with George Clooney as substitute teacher.
A geography, politics, business and ethics lesson condensed into two hours, Syriana is a dizzying piece of cinema. Switching from the Persian Gulf to Marbella to Houston in a heartbeat, it follows the individual threads of several characters each laden with their own problems.
A CIA spook (Clooney) who’s lost a missile, an energy consultant (Matt Damon) who finds favour with a Saudi Prince through the death of his on, a Texan CEO (Chris Cooper) and a disgruntled Pakastani worker all have an influence in the production and distribution of oil. When the merger of two major energy corporations in the US is investigated for corruption, the repercussions are felt at every level. Jobs are lost, power is shifted, a nation is demonised, a terrorist is born.
It appears the big studios are copping on to the public demand for a little more meat in the casserole, so to speak. Films ‘with a message’ seem to be popping up everywhere. Even the producers of The Legend of Zorro claimed that their film mirrored ‘the very real threat of terrorism today’. While a few of these efforts seem to have their lofty aspirations tacked on as a marketing afterthought, Syriana is a genuinely intelligent film, borne from considerable research by writer/director Stephen Gaghan.
Partly inspired by former CIA agent Bob Baer’s book See No Evil (which chronicles the author’s experiences in the Middle East), Syriana has been likened to Soderbergh’s Traffic in both style and substance.
Both penned by Gaghan, he himself has suggested that the two films do have similar themes. Where Traffic dealt with the distribution of drugs, Syriana focuses on the distribution of oil, and it’s a dirty business.
Syriana has the moral weight of a documentary, questioning the stranglehold which the west have on Middle Eastern supply and positing a theory of cause and affect as an explanation for suicide bombers.
‘Corruption?’, an oil executive yells in one scene when slapped with a subpoena. ‘Corruption is why you and i are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out there in the street’.
It’s not all self-importance and idealism. The score, beautiful photography and measured editing give it fhe feel of a thriller, building momentum towards an inevitable climax.
The cast carry some of the weight too. Not originally intended for the part, Clooney’s role as pudgy, unremarkable Bob Barnes is being mooted by the Oscar-pickers at the Academy. Having sprouted a greasy beard, lank hair and gained thirty-five pounds, he’s the polar opposite of his previous incarnation as smooth criminal Danny Ocean.
Matt Damon is as he always is, predictable but reliable as the hollowed father profiting from his loss of his son. The rest of the talented cast are too numerous to discuss here, but Alexander Siddig should be noted, best-known for his role as the on-board medic in Star Trek. His portrayal of Prince Nassir is jaw-dropping and has earned him some major credit.
Unfortunately, this ambitious effort does have a flaw: at a single viewing it may be trying to do too much at once. The sheer size of the cast makes it difficult to keep hold of all the strands. But for those willing to let a few loose ends fall, Syriana makes an gripping ride.
In a nutshell? Pay attention.